Global Rome

For some years now, and since moving to the city in 2003, Rome has become an ethnographic field site for me; it will probably remain so in the future. It is simply not possible to engage with global studies without factoring in urban developments, as cities are indeed both the dustbins and motors of globalization. One of the larger projects I have been involved in concerns the study of Rome as a global city. Is Rome today a global city? If so, how does its globality unfold within the city? Besides organizing conferences and workshops on this theme, the so far culmination of this project is a volume which I have edited together with Isabella Clough Marinaro, and which will come out in 2014 with Indiana University Press under the title, "Global Rome. Changing Faces of the Eternal City". This volume examines the “real city” beyond Rome's historical center, examining the diversity and challenges of life in neighborhoods affected by immigration, neoliberalism, formal urban planning, and grassroots social movements. We engage Rome as a colorful, contrasting and fascinating backdrop for reflecting on theories of urban change within a context of globalization. The various contributors (and that includes, alas, myself) engage with key themes in contemporary urban studies: global city theory; alternative modernities; capital cities and the nation; the informal city; the self-made city; urban change from below; and sustainability. With this book we not only lead Readers into the mysteries of the Eternal City, but also aim to make an original contribution to interdisciplinary scholarship and serves as a provocative introduction to the Eternal City.